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Jetson LinuxOperating system · Nvidia

CVE-2022-21819

HIGH · 7.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-03-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 32.7.1 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
NVIDIA distributions of Jetson Linux contain a vulnerability where an error in the IOMMU configuration may allow an unprivileged attacker with physical access to the board direct read/write access to the entire system address space through the PCI bus. Such an attack could result in denial of service, code execution, escalation of privileges, and impact to data integrity and confidentiality. The scope impact may extend to other components.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

NVIDIA Jetson Linux contains an IOMMU configuration error that allows an unprivileged attacker with physical access to the board to use the PCI bus to gain direct read/write access to the entire system address space. This bypasses DMA protection and memory isolation, enabling code execution, privilege escalation, and data integrity/confidentiality impacts.

MitigationProperly configure IOMMU to restrict PCI device DMA access to authorized memory regions only; this typically requires firmware/bootloader updates or device tree modifications. Physical access controls should also be reviewed.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Jetson LinuxOperating system
Affected:>= 32.1, < 32.7.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Physical
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed Jetson Linux version
    Run 'cat /etc/nv_tegra_release' or check '/proc/version' to find the exact Jetson Linux version running on the device
    Affected if The version falls within >= 32.1 and < 32.7.1 (note: 32.7.1 itself is not affected)
  2. Verify IOMMU is enabled in the kernel
    Check the kernel command line in '/proc/cmdline' for 'iommu=' parameters or check '/sys/kernel/debug/kernel_page_tables' if available
    Affected if IOMMU is disabled or not present in the kernel boot parameters
  3. Inspect the device tree for IOMMU configuration
    Examine the device tree blob (DTB) or the /proc/device-tree directory for 'iommu' or 'dma-ranges' properties related to PCI host bridge nodes
    Affected if No IOMMU bindings are defined for PCI devices, or 'dma-ranges' shows full memory access without restrictions
  4. Check PCI device DMA isolation status
    Use 'dmesg' to look for IOMMU group information, or check '/sys/kernel/debug/iommu/groups/' to see if PCI devices are in isolated IOMMU groups
    Affected if PCI devices are not assigned to separate IOMMU groups or groups allow unrestricted access to system memory

The system is affected if running Jetson Linux 32.1 through 32.7.0 AND the IOMMU is either disabled, not properly configured for PCI devices, or allows unrestricted DMA access to the full system memory address space.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 32.7.1 or later
Fixed in 32.7.1
Interim mitigation

Properly configure IOMMU to restrict PCI device DMA access to authorized memory regions only; this typically requires firmware/bootloader updates or device tree modifications. Physical access controls should also be reviewed.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Jetson Linux 32.7.1 or later

  1. Upgrade Jetson Linux to version 32.7.1 or later to address the IOMMU configuration vulnerability
  2. Verify the IOMMU settings are properly configured in the device tree or bootloader
  3. After upgrade, confirm that IOMMU is enabled and correctly restricting PCI bus access
  4. Test that legitimate PCI device functionality remains intact after the configuration fix

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Jetson Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-21819 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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